


Failed Meditation and Flower Crowns

by cuddlesome



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU where they're buddies at Jedi school, Age Difference, Flower Crowns, Light Angst, Male-Female Friendship, Valentine's Day Fluff, mini kylo ren breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:59:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6033847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlesome/pseuds/cuddlesome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey interrupted Ben's teen angst so he could play with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Failed Meditation and Flower Crowns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dragimal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragimal/gifts).



> My girlfriend drew me some [young Ben and Rey cuteness for Valentine's Day ](http://dragimalsdaydreams.tumblr.com/post/139323663777/darksomeness-look-at-what-dragimal-sent-me-for) and I was inspired to write a little fic about it~

Ben Solo was not good at meditating. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though.

  
At sunrise, he sought out his favorite spot, a meadow on the island overflowing with sun daisies. He took a moment to simply enjoy the fresh, green scent the daisies produced mixed with the salty sea air. Then he awkwardly folded his gangly legs beneath him and sat down, facing the ocean.

  
He knew most of the younger padawans wouldn’t be there that day since they were going through lightsaber training, an event no one wanted to miss. The even younger ones would still be asleep at this hour. Uncle Luke would be busy instructing his classes. Ben could be alone with his thoughts.

  
The idea scared him a little. He didn’t like all of his thoughts.

  
After only a minute or two spent trying to relax, fix his posture, and control his breathing like his uncle had taught him, Ben started to fidget. He picked a flower and tugged at its petals and leaves.

  
Emptying his mind of distractions always forced him to acknowledge the dark spot within his brain that had been bleeding outward like wet ink for years. He recognized it as what could only be the Dark Side. Ben made sure to bury it deep enough that his uncle wouldn’t realize, only examining it at times like this. The last thing he needed was to be shipped off again when he had just started to feel like he belonged. Not that he seemed to truly belong anywhere, according to what the dark, ever-growing spot in his mind told him.

  
The last time Ben had occasion to meditate in the meadow he had come out in the dead of night after a particularly nasty nightmare. He didn’t want to tell his uncle about it; after all, he was no longer a small child. He could take care of the odd night terror. Meditation didn’t clear his head, though. It made room for the darkness to grow. And then the whispering hit a very, very sore mark. At a barb involving how his parents were neglecting him, Ben lost it. He had left a wide area where the meadow met the mountains desolate with his lightsaber, slicing huge gouges and knocking down hunks of rock that crushed the flowers beneath. When he grew too tired to continue, he dropped to the ground and ripped flowers out with his hands. In the end, he collapsed on the limp corpses and upturned dirt, bemoaning the damage but thankful that the darkness seemed to have been temporarily cowed into silence.

  
Now, Ben opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. The shadow of the mountain didn’t quite conceal the mutilation to the landscape. He tried not to let himself feel too guilty, they were just flowers, but he found himself wanting to cause damage more permanent after ripping them out. He bit his lip and twisted the stem of the flower in his hand, turning back to face the ocean.

  
Ben started as a pair of hands closed over his eyes from behind. It was only the tininess of the hands and the familiar Coruscanti-accented voice that followed the motion that kept him from lashing out.

  
“Guess who?” Rey sounded like she was fighting down a laugh, clearly proud of herself for managing to sneak up on him.

  
She had probably woken up early and tracked him down based on his Force signature. Ben frowned as it occurred to him that he hadn’t sensed her approaching. He could chalk it up to either his not paying attention or her cloaking herself from him, both of which made him look ridiculous. His frown deepened, but he was snapped out of it by one of Rey’s hands leaving his eyes to tug on one of his ears. He rolled his eyes, but then smiled, putting aside all thoughts of meditation or the Dark Side.

  
Ben made his voice deep and growling. “I’d know you anywhere. We meet again, Rey, my arch nemesis.”

  
He twisted around, gesturing with one hand as he did to snatch Rey up with the Force. The girl squealed and giggled as he gently bobbed her small, flailing body up and down midair.

  
His usual attitude toward the small children that Luke taught was that of indifference or annoyance. Rey, however, was his exception. Ben’s looming height and sullen eyes warded off almost all of the children in his vicinity, save for her. His first introduction to the five year old had involved her walking up to scrutinize him with her head tilted far back since she only reached his kneecap, determining aloud that he wasn’t as scary as everyone said, and declaring herself his friend thereafter.

  
Charmed by some positive attention he had received from someone aside from his uncle, Ben tolerated and then came to enjoy her company. Rey brought him presents of scrap metal she had gotten from who knows where and asked to play with his “shiny” hair on a regular basis. On some level, Ben knew it was kind of pathetic that his only real friend was a third his age, but he didn’t mind. Especially when he got to be her rival when they play fought, her favorite thing to do.

“You are defenseless before me, Jedi!”

Ben followed the declaration up with his best evil laugh, which cracked a little. Rey didn’t seem to care, too wrapped up in how he still twirled her around in the air. After Rey was dizzy and “surrendered”, Ben lowered her to the meadow.

“Me too?” Rey asked, lifting her hands up in an imitation of how Ben had gestured when he lifted her up.

Ben, not expecting much of it, stupidly said, “You can try.”

In the next moment he vaulted up in the air, dangling in the Force’s invisible grip. Ben yelped, squirming in the air much the same way Rey had been, give or take a hundred pounds. Rey had her brow furrowed in concentration, turning him in a careful circle. Ben, meanwhile, attempted to mentally prepare himself for when Rey lost her concentration. Soon he would drop like a stone and bruise his tailbone. He was half right. His descent back to the ground ended with him falling bonelessly to the meadow, but he managed not to have anything injured, save for his pride.

Ben sat up and leaned back on the heels of his hands. “How—?”

“I practiced with rocks and Artoo!” Rey says, looking altogether very pleased with herself.

Ben raised his eyebrows. “You must have practiced a lot.”

“’S not that hard,” Rey said with the confidence only children can, then added, “I practiced something else while you meditah—mediti—”

“You practiced something else while I meditated?” Ben asked, supplying the last word.

Tried to meditate, he mentally amended.

Rey nodded, then pulled something out of the various pockets Uncle Luke had sewn on the inside of her tiny training robes after learning of her affinity for collecting things. In her hand were two flower crowns that looked to have been freshly made from the sun daisies in the meadow. Ben felt surprised she had been patient enough to wait long enough to make them while he fruitlessly meditated.

“One for me and one for Ben.”

Ben balked at the idea of wearing it, but Rey’s determined walk toward him left little room for argument. He bent his back and lowered his head, allowing her to place the crown reverently on him.

Rey took a moment to pet his hair. “Pretty.”

Ben’s lips quirked to the side. “My hair or the flowers?”

“Both,” Rey answered sagely as she put her own crown on.

“Of course.”

Rey then began to explain to him in a ramble about how one went about constructing a flower crown, picking more sun daisies and sitting down between his legs to demonstrate. Ben didn’t know that he was impressed as much with Rey’s flower crown making skills as her powerful control of the Force, but he smiled easily nonetheless.

**Author's Note:**

> [Now featuring a spiritual sequel.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6871540)


End file.
